Working in the marine environment: Complexities & Intricacies

1. Working in the marine environment:Complexities & Intricacies Mark Russell Executive Director - Planning, Mineral Resources & BMAPA Mineral Products Association mark.russell@mineralproducts.org

3. “We have mapped the entire sphere of the moon at resolutions sufficient to reveal characteristics the size of a football field, as well as objects the size of bicycles within these fields. Yet we have mapped less than seven percent of the ocean floor at resolutions as much as ten thousand times poorer than the precision used for the Moon and Mars” US Congressional Record, 15th September 1998

4. Extent of the GB marine area

5. Marine aggregate interests - Scale & perspective Isle of Wight – 400km2 Licensed area – 912km2 (0.08% UK shelf) Annual dredged area – 85.66km2 (0.01%) 90% dredging effort – 37.26km2

8. Offshore, common access & multiple use is the norm • Landuse • Tourism • Oil & Gas • Mariculture • Coast Defence • Ports & Navigation • Military Activities • Culture • Conservation • Dredging & Disposal • Fishing • Renewable Energy • Marine Recreation • Mineral Extraction • Submarine Cables

9. “When contemplating the future, it is useful to consider three classes of knowledge: things we know, things we know we don’t know, and things we don’t know we don’t know The greatest havoc is caused by the third.” P. Schumaker, Risk Assessment Expert Managing risk & uncertainty

10. Marine planning has an important role • Mapping features, activities & uses; • Defining a consistent ‘licence to operate’ for all activities; • Identifying spatially constrained resources – where activities may/may not occur; • Introducing policies to safeguard existing activities and/or resources for future use; • Providing a long-term view – essential for business certainty/confidence

12. www.bmapa.org